Undefeated in two Pac-12 Conference games since returning from a COVID-19 pause, the Stanford Cardinal will seek their fifth consecutive win Saturday evening, playing the Washington Huskies in Seattle.
The resurgent Cardinal (10-4, 3-1) restarted Tuesday after an almost three-week hiatus, and immediately defeated fifth-ranked and previously unbeaten USC 75-69.
Stanford had not played since Dec. 23, when it won its second game at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
The Cardinal followed Tuesday night with a 62-57 win at Washington State on Thursday. Spencer Jones and Brandon Angel each scored 16 points as Stanford rallied from an 11-point, second-half deficit.
“We understood how important it was to guard the 3-point line, to rebound the basketball, and then in the second half we did a great job of that,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said.
Stanford held Washington State to 2-of-12 3-point shooting in the second half. The Cardinal flipped the game by scoring 23 unanswered points in a 12-minute surge that turned a 42-31 deficit into a 54-42 lead.
Stanford made 56.5 percent of its second-half shots while holding the Cougars to 28.6 percent (8-for-28).
Jones sank 4 of 5 shots from the field to score 10 second-half points; he averages 10.7 a game for the season, with Harrison Ingram (12.2) and Jaiden Delaire (11.9) also scoring in double figures. Angel came off the bench to make 4 of 6 shots for nine points.
Washington (7-7, 2-2) pulled to .500 for the season and in conference play with a 64-55 win over Cal on Wednesday thanks in part to its offensive rebounding. The Huskies pulled down 12 offensive boards — five by Nate Roberts, who finished with a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double.
“Nate took the challenge personally,” Terrell Brown Jr. told The Seattle Times. “He got stops, rebounds and he made free throws. He took his time. He’s working on those all the time after practice and before practice.”
It was the first double-double for Roberts since a seasoning-opening 10-point, 19-rebound performance against Northern Illinois. Otherwise, he has averaged less than five rebounds and three points a game, so the Huskies hope for continued strong performances from the fourth-year 6-foot-11 forward.
Meanwhile, Brown — the Pac-12’s leading scorer at 20.7 points per game — scored 21 against Cal. Brown has scored in double figures every game this season.
–Field Level Media
